Kindred Spirits
by PJ Animation
Summary: A young girl meets up with Naruto, age six, through a set of bad circumstances. What will end up happening? Naruto, meet Anko, age six. Discontinued.
1. Enter Anko

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, or anything else that you recognize. Anything else is probably of my creation.

_**Kindred Spirits**_

**Chapter 1**

**Enter Anko**

"Little bitch, get away from me!" a man shouted. The small girl who had, moments earlier, run into him was flung away with a slap.

For a second, she just stared at his retreating back, before sniffling, and clambering back onto her feet. She hobbled away, making her way back to her small apartment.

For several years she had endured this treatment. Every time she went out, it was always "bitch this" and "evil child that." No matter what she did, even if it wasn't wrong, she was always insulted and picked on.

The only one nice to her was some strange old man who came to talk to her every other night. He wasn't a relation of hers, she knew that much, but she didn't know anything else about him. He wore big, white robes, and a wide brimmed hat, and gave her money so that she could survive. She called him "Ojiji-san," since she didn't know his name.

She had always been alone. She didn't have a family, or any friends. All of the other children said that their parents had told them to stay away from her. The orphanage had kicked her out, once she was six years old. That's when the old man started to come.

Little Anko was starting to get tired of the treatment from the world.

But it was at that moment that the world decided to compensate her.

"DEMON! I'll get you for that!" a voice nearby shouted out.

Little Anko spun around, expecting them to be coming after her. But no one was there.

Her thoughts spun a little. Someone else was being called bad names like she was?

She dashed off towards the sound of the man's voice. His shouts sliced through the quiet that the area normally had.

What she found was frightening. It was worse than what the people would do to her, and that was pretty bad. There was a large group of people in a circle. What they were surrounding and attacking, Anko couldn't see, but she had to find out.

She dashed forward, and started to slide through the crowd. After two years worth of evading pursuers, she had gained the ability to slip between people in crowds very easily.

Once she reached the center of the crowd, she was horrified. There was a small blonde boy, beaten and covered in gashes. She gasped, so much worse than what they did to her.

Without another thought, she jumped in front of the boy, and grabbed him. She tried to pick him up, but his size hid his weight well, and he was much heavier than she thought he'd be.

The people around her started to mutter.

"Hey, look, the little bitch wants to help the demon."

"Maybe they'll start working together, causing us even more problems."

"We should just take care of both of them right now."

The circle started to close in around the two of them. Anko shivered at the deranged looks on the people's faces. What should I do?

She covered the small boy's body with her own, hoping to protect him, and closed her eyes. Go away, go away, go away. The last thing in her view was a man with a raised knife. Go away, go away, go away.

She waited for the blow to come. And waited. And waited.

Nothing was happening. She slowly opened her eyes.

There! In between Anko and the boy, and the crowd, was a small group of people. They all had creepy masks on, not that she would ever say so.

"You are all under arrest. You have all broken the laws of the Sandaime Hokage thrice. One, you have spoken about the unspeakable. Two, you have attacked an underage child. Three, you have attempted to attack another underage child."

The voice came from one of the masked people, but Anko couldn't discern which one. She was still in shock at the treatment of this boy. He was treated just like her!

The boy let out a small moan, and Anko jumped off of him. That had startled her! His partially open eyes focused a little more, and looked in her direction.

"You saved me," he whispered, as his eyes started to close. And then he was unconscious again.

Anko looked down on him. Her eyes welled up with tears. Just like her…

Then, one of the men in masks tapped her on her shoulder. She looked at him, and he gently pulled her away from the boy. "The Hokage should be here soon. He'll get help."

Anko nodded, and went back to looking at the boy. He had fuzzy blonde blood covered hair that stuck up in every direction, and wore a what used to be a bright orange jacket, now a bright orange vest, considering the arms had been ripped off after being cut into too many times. Underneath that, he wore a black sleeveless t-shirt, and wore a pair of orange pants, which were ripped and tore in random spots. His face was the most interesting, though. He had small whisker like scars on his cheeks. It looked like someone had scratched them rather deep into his face. She couldn't see his eyes, but remembered from the few seconds that she saw them, that they were blue. Very bright blue.

Anko was startled when the voice of the old man came from behind her. "Anko-chan." She twisted around, and saw the old man wearing the robes.

"Ojiji-san!" she cried, jumping into his arms. He laughed, before catching sight of the small body lying on the ground. His demeanor turned somber. "Did you see what happened to this boy, Anko-chan?"

She nodded, looking back at him. "I was walking back home after trying to go buy some food. I heard a shout about a demon. I thought they were talking to me, at first, but I hadn't even done anything. So I looked around, and found a big group of people in a circle around him. They were beating him up! It was horrible! So I went through the group of people, and tried to stop them. They were about to attack me too, but the masked people showed up and stopped them."

The old man nodded. "Well, lets get him to his home. We can take care of him there." He picked up the small body of the boy with one hand, carefully. Then, with a small smile, he held out his other hand for Anko.

Anko grabbed it, and with a swirl of leaves, the three disappeared.

The three appeared in a small hallway, with several doors with numbers on them. Anko frowned.

"This is near my apartment, isn't it?" she asked the old man. He nodded, and reached into Naruto's pocket and grabbed a key. He quickly stuck it into the lock, twisted.

The door opened into a very small apartment, much like hers. It was very sparsely decorated, and had wallpaper barely hanging on the walls. Off in the corner there was a small futon, and a very beaten up alarm clock. There was a small table off to the other side of the room. A constantly dripping sink filled the room with noise.

The old man gave off a sad smile at the state of the room. He stepped over to the small futon, and placed the young boy in it. With a few simple hand seals, his forefinger started to glow with a green light.

"What-what's that?" Anko asked, surprised.

"A simple healing jutsu. See how my finger glows? When I pull the fingertip over a thin wound, like a scrape, or a cut like these, it will close the wound." He demonstrated on one of the many cuts covering Naruto's body. Anko watched, amazed.

The old man ran his finger over all of the cuts that he could see, healing them in an instant. It was breathtaking to watch, the small green glow healing all of the cuts, and not even leaving scars.

After a few minutes, the old man pulled away. "Well, he's much better off now. He'll be fine after a bit of rest." Anko smiled, relieved. "Who is he, Ojiji-san? I've never seen him before."

The old man nodded. "I'm surprised you've never seen him. He's Uzumaki Naruto. He's your age, too, now that I think about it."

The girl's eyes widened. Her age? No way! He looked way to small for that.

The old man laughed. "Really! He is your age. He was born an orphan because he was born on the day Kyuubi attacked." The laughter left his eyes. "He's never had family, and the people take out all their anger towards the Kyuubi on him, just because his birthday."

Tears formed in Anko's eyes. All of that hatred, just because he was born on a certain day? How could they?

Ojiji-san watched her, tears running down her face. It was surprising that she cared this much about him… but then again, he was treated just like her. A kindred spirit.

"Now, let's get you to your own apartment. You need to be getting to sleep soon." Anko nodded, and grabbed onto the old man's arm. Together, they walked out of the room. The old man locked the door, and handed the key to Anko. "Take care of this for me, would you? I'll forget I have it by tomorrow, and when Naruto comes looking for it, it'll take forever to find. Just come by my office tomorrow, preferably early morning, and we can wait for Naruto to come. Ok?"

Anko smiled. Somebody trusted her with stuff! Kinda… somebody trusted her with somebody else's stuff! But it had the same meaning. She nodded vigorously.

"What's his apartment number? I want to come see him sometime!"

"He's in apartment three-six." Third floor, sixth one from the staircase, got it! Then, with a twitch, she realized something. "I live right next door to him."

The old man watched with amusement. "Do you? I never noticed."

"I'm in three-five! That's messed up! How have I never met him before? He lives next door!"

Ojiji-san laughed. Then he took her by the hand, and led her to the next room over. Anko pulled her key from around her neck, and slid it into the lock. Twisting it, she pulled the door open. Her apartment was much better decorated than Naruto's. The wallpaper wasn't coming off the walls, and it had much better furniture. Not by much though, considering she wasn't well liked either, and occasionally people came to trash her apartment. But it was still better than Naruto's!

The old man reached into his robes, and pulled out a small envelope, which he handed to Anko. She took it and opened it. Inside was about four hundred ryou. Enough to last her a month.

"Alright! Money!" Anko cried. "Just what I needed!"

The old man smiled sadly. This girl was too young to be taking care of herself, just like Naruto was.

"Ojiji-san! Thanks for everything!" Anko said, smiling. "I hope Naruto-kun'll be alright. He looked much worse than I've ever been after something like that."

Ojiji-san smiled. "Naruto will be fine tomorrow. He heals surprisingly fast."

Anko nodded. The old man frowned. "Well, I need to leave again, sorry I can't stay for longer. Healing Naruto took up most of my free time. I'll see you tomorrow."

Anko nodded, and hugged the old man. He smiled, and wrapped his arms around her. Then, they both let go, and he turned and walked out the door.

Anko grabbed the money sitting on the table, and slid it into her hiding spot, a small crevice in the wall near the futon that was totally unnoticeable without specifically looking for it.

After that, she changed into her pajamas, and laid down on her bed. But rather than fall asleep, her thoughts spun around that boy she had seen earlier in the day. "Uzumaki Naruto," she tested the name on her tongue. After about an hour of thinking about him, she eventually calmed her thoughts enough to fall asleep.

_**During the Night…**_

Anko tossed and turned, dreaming of a boy with blonde hair. He wore a bright orange jumpsuit, and had a Hidden Leaf hitai-ate wrapped around his forehead.

_**Dreamscape.**_

"_I'm going to become Hokage!"_

_-Flash-_

"_Why, Sasuke? Why did you do it?"_

_-Flash-_

"_What do you mean the Hokage job is shit!"_

_-Flash-_

"_I'll bring you back even if I have to break every bone in your body!"_

_-Flash-_

"_Hey, sensei, I learned a jutsu from the scroll, can I become a Genin now?"_

_-Flash-_

"_Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"_

_-Flash-_

"_My name is UZUMAKI NARUTO!"_

_**The Next Day…**_

Anko woke with a start. Her dreams had been filled with a blood covered boy wearing orange. All of those flashes of images seemed so… so real!

She looked over at her battered clock. It was 0800 hours! She jumped out of the bed, and jumped into the bathroom. Quickly, she took a shower, and slipped into some clean clothes. She pulled her hair into a quick ponytail, grabbed Naruto's key out of the pocket of her dirty jeans from yesterday and dashed off. She made sure to lock her door, before speeding off towards Ojiji-san's office. While she was running, she slipped the new key onto the key ring around her neck, making sure she wouldn't loose it easily.

After completing her task of getting the key onto the key ring, she sped up, not needing to concentrate on something else anymore. She loved the feeling of running. It was so nice to have the wind streaming through your hair.

She reached the Hokage tower after a couple minutes of full out running. She spent another two minutes catching her breath. After that, she was ready.

Anko marched up to the doors of the large tower, and pushed one of the doors, open. She marched right past the secretaries, and up the stairs, to the large room that was the Hokage's office. She knocked politely, before pushing the door open a small amount to look in. There was Ojiji-san, sitting at the desk, waving to her to come in.

She pushed the door the rest of the way open, and slid inside, closing the door back behind her.

"Hello, Anko-chan! What can I do for you?" Anko grabbed the extra key on her key ring. "You told me to bring Naruto's key back to you this morning. You gave it to me for safe-keeping." She attempted for several minutes to get the key off of the ring, before eventually succeeding. She relished the feeling of victory for a moment, before handing the key over to Ojiji-san. "Here you go."

They sat for a moment waiting for Naruto to come in. And that moment became two. That two became four. And so on, until two hours had passed. Anko was pacing around the office, looking at anything that she deemed slightly important. There were various nick-knacks covering the walls that kept her interest, so she wouldn't be too bored.

Then, their waiting session was interrupted by a brash, young voice coming through the door. "Ojiji-san! I'm here for my key back, and whatever else you wanted to talk to me about!"

Anko smiled. Naruto gave Ojiji-san the same nickname as she had. The old man just motioned Naruto to come in.

Naruto looked different than he did the night before. He was no longer covered in cuts and bruises, and most of them hadn't even left scars. His hair no longer had blood staining the bright yellow. He had a large and, in Anko's opinion, rather fake looking smile on his face. He closed the door quietly behind him, and turned back around.

Now his smile wasn't quite so fake looking. He ran up to the Hokage and tried to wrap him up in a hug. That didn't work out too well, considering he managed to trip and fall over right before reaching Ojiji-san, landing in the old man's lap.

Ojiji-san was obviously expecting this, as he caught Naruto before he landed too hard, and held out the key to the boy. Naruto grabbed the key, and slipped it inside his jacket, presumably into a hidden pocket. Then the boy grabbed a small envelope, just like the one Anko had gotten yesterday, off of the Hokage's desk.

Then, the boy turned around, and noticed Anko in the corner of the room, watching him. He tilted his head questioningly. "Who's she?"

"Naruto-kun, this is Mitarashi Anko. Anko-chan, this is Uzumaki Naruto. You met last night for about a few seconds, as far as the Anbu tell it. Naruto, she's the one who got between you and the crowd last night. That distracted them for long enough that the Anbu arrived to take care of everything."

Naruto nodded. "I remember! That was right before I passed out. Thanks a lot, Anko-chan!" He smiled another genuine smile. Then it changed to a frown, and he bowed his head. "But… why did you help me? I mean, everyone else's parents tell them to stay away from me, why didn't you do that?"

Anko's heart fell. "I don't have parents. I take care of myself, just like you do."

Naruto's head jerked up. He stared at her for a second. Then… he smiled.

He knew it was odd to smile when she said she had no parents. But it meant something to him. There were others like him. There were those without parents, without family. He couldn't put it into words yet, but he would eventually.

Anko saw his smile. It brightened the world for the moments that it appeared on his face. Her heart lifted, and she knew that she was now important in his world, just like he was in hers.

The Hokage sat and watched, smiling, because two young people now had a little more meaning in their life.

_**Four years later…**_

"NARUTO-KUN! WAKE UP! YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE TO THE GENIN EXAM!" Naruto, upon hearing the voice, shot out of bed. There, at his table, sat Anko. She was impatiently waiting for him to get up.

"What time is it?" he asked.

"It's 0630, you've got a half an hour before we need to be at school. Start getting ready would you!"

Naruto smiled, grabbed some clean clothes, and ran into the bathroom. He took a quick shower, and put on the outfit he had bought a few days ago. Well, he hadn't bought it, but he got it anyways. Anko got it for him, since she wasn't overcharged for everything and thus, with his money, could afford better clothes than he could.

His outfit consisted of a simple high necked black vest, unzipped, with a red spiral on the back, and an orange sleeveless shirt underneath, and a pair of black pants. On his hands he wore a strange pair of tight black gloves that had minuscule golden seals running all over them.

He walked softly out of the bathroom. Anko stood up, and Naruto noticed she was wearing a new outfit as well. She had on a light grey tank top that had an image of cartoonish wings sprouting from a kunai. Over that, she wore a long black jacket, open, with a red swirl decoration on the back. Also, she had a pair of tight slightly-below-knee length camouflage shorts. On her back sat a katana styled sword with a simple hilt and guard.

They walked towards the exit. Naruto put on his boots, specially made for taijutsu, and Anko slipped on her ninja sandals.

They walked out, and Naruto quickly locked the door, and slid the key into a small hidden pocket in the lining of his gloves.

Naruto took off at a run, dashing down hallways and jumped quickly down the center of the large staircase. He landed with a thump, and Anko landed softly beside him. They looked at each other, smirked, and ran off out the exit of the large building.

After a few minutes of running, they made it to the academy, where the Genin Exams were set to begin in twenty minutes. They grabbed two seats in the corner, and sat watching the other students slowly stream in.

"What do you think the test is going to be on?"

"I've heard it's always on one of the three Academy-level jutsu. It's random which one, though."

Naruto and Anko turned to each other. "Well, that's a two out of three for you, and a three out of three for me. If that's all that's on this exam, we should ace it." Anko smirked. "Let's just hope it's not Bunshin. That would upset me, a lot."

Naruto smiled as well but before he could reply, Iruka-sensei shouted for quiet. "Ok, this is the beginning of the Genin Exams. Mizuki-sensei and I are going to be calling you one by one to the back room. There we will test you on the skills needed to become a Genin of Konoha. If you pass, good job, if not, well, better luck next year."

Naruto nodded. One by one, in alphabetical order, the class was called down to the back room. One by one, they came back with a hitai-ate.

"Mitarashi Anko!" Iruka's voice called from through the wall.

Anko nodded, stood up, jumped over the three rows of students in front of her, and walked through the door.

Naruto waited for a short while, wondering how she was faring. If everyone else so far had gotten a hitai-ate, then it shouldn't be too hard. Just, hopefully it wasn't Bunshin.

The door opened, and Naruto shifted his focus over to the girl who was his only friend. She smiled, held up a hitai-ate, but then her face fell into a frown. Naruto recognized what was going on.

The test was indeed on Bunshin. Shit.

He had always had a problem with Bunshin. He had too much chakra, and didn't have precise enough control to limit it to the tiny amount needed for a bunshin. Thus, he was left with failures every time he tried. He had worked for hours on his control, but it was never good enough for Bunshin, and he couldn't find any higher level versions of it to use in replacement. Thus, he was stuck. He couldn't become a genin this year.

Anko had reached his side, quickly sitting back down, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Sorry," she whispered, "I know how much this means to you."

Naruto just shook his head.

The names continued, and eventually, Uzumaki Naruto was called.

Naruto resolutely marched down towards the door, hearing Anko's quiet "good luck," before starting to concentrate. He would need it.

He came to a stop in another medium sized classroom. The only ones in here were Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei.

"Naruto, please perform the technique 'Bunshin no Jutsu' and we will give you your hitai-ate. You must create three viable clones, or more, to pass." Iruka intoned. Naruto nodded resolutely, and pulled the smallest amount of chakra he could, and melded it into his body.

For reasons unknown to the teachers, Naruto was unable to use hand seals to gather chakra. Because of this, the teachers had to teach Naruto how to perform seal-less versions of the academy-level jutsu. The only one Naruto had trouble with was Bunshin no Jutsu. For him the control was too precise to do without hand seals. Thus, he could never control it properly, and failed to create worthwhile clones, every time he tried.

The chakra ran through his body, taking shape in the way he wanted. But it was still too much. He shook his head, and released the chakra.

"It's still too much. I can't grab a small enough amount to perform the technique right! I'm sorry." He looked away, unable to look his hard working teacher in the eye. Iruka had spent many months working after hours trying to help Naruto grasp this and the other techniques.

Iruka nodded. "Very well, I'm sorry, Naruto, but you fail. If you would like to reattempt this, then you will need to go to the Hokage's office some time later today. He may be able to change the decision, because of your… disability." Naruto nodded, and quickly walked away, missing the snarl that appeared on Mizuki-sensei's face.

After he walked back to the classroom, the class erupted into whispers.

"He doesn't have a hitai-ate."

"What was the test on?"

"What happened?"

Naruto just ignored all of them, and jumped back to his seat. He sat down and stared at his desk.

"They said I could talk to the Hokage about it later today, because of my disability. Maybe I can still pass." He whispered to Anko. She nodded, and smiled.

"He'll let you pass. Ojiji-san wouldn't let you fail like that for something that wasn't your fault."

Naruto looked over at her. "Yeah, you're right. I shouldn't worry so much."

"Yamanaka Ino!" the last person in the class was called up. She walked away with a smile.

After a minute, Ino came back smirking, holding a headband up in the air. "Whoo! I passed!" she cried. The class stared at her. She blushed, and went quietly to her seat.

Iruka came back into the classroom, and walked back to the front. "All of you who passed, be here tomorrow promptly at 0800 for your Genin team instructions. Naruto, please see me when class has ended."

Then Mizuki-sensei stood, and started to give them a long introductory course on what the life of a Genin was like. Naruto and Anko promptly ignored him. Anko started to draw little cartoons on the corner of the handout Mizuki-sensei gave them. Naruto just sat, staring off into space.

A loud bell rang, signaling the end of classes. Everyone but Naruto started to pack up to leave. Anko whispered that she'd wait outside for him, and they could go visit Ojiji-san when he came out.

Naruto stared at Iruka for a few seconds, before Iruka gestured him up to the podium. "Since you're going to go to the Hokage to talk about this, would you mind taking these scrolls to him? They're the record of all the graduates. He needs to get it soon, if possible."

Naruto nodded. "I'm going to go there right when I leave here. He'll get them really fast."

"Alright, you're dismissed. Good luck." Iruka smiled, handing Naruto the small scroll.

"Thanks!" Naruto cried as he ran out the door, nearly colliding into Anko.

"C'mon Anko-chan! Let's go," he said, grabbing her arm to pull her along.

They dashed off, and reached the Hokage Tower quicker than usual.

The door to the Hokage office was nearly thrown off of its hinges.

"Hey, Ojiji-san! I gotta talk to you!" came Naruto's shouting voice.

The Hokage looked up from his scrolls, seeing Naruto barging into the room.

"What is it, Naruto-kun?" He asked softly.

Naruto held out the scrolls that he was carrying. "These are from Iruka-sensei. They're all the graduates. The problem is my name's not on there! The test was on Bunshin, and I can't do that without my hands!" Naruto nearly shouted.

The Hokage nodded. "Yes, that is a bit of a problem. We can fix that right now." The Hokage pulled out a small scroll, and started to scribble on it. After a minute, he stamped it with the official Hokage seal, and rolled it up.

"Read this, and perform the task listed inside, and I will allow you to become a Genin. If you fail, you will have to wait for a year before attempting to pass the test again."

Naruto nodded and ripped open the scroll.

_Official Mission - Rank E (Genin Test Ranking for Uzumaki Naruto)_

_You must "borrow" the Scroll of Forbidden Jutsu, and learn one technique from it, within a four hour time constraint, beginning when you finish reading this message._

_Sandaime Hokage_

_-OHS-_

Naruto nodded, and dashed out of the room.

Anko stared as Naruto ran past shouting "I have another test! I'll see you in four hours!" She just shook her head, before walking into the Hokage's office.

Naruto dashed up and down the hallways of the Hokage Tower, trying to find the scroll. He went in a room, looked around, before running out again. Lather, rinse and repeat as many times as necessary.

After a few minutes of running about, he found a small library. He looked everywhere, not finding the scroll. But… wait! There, above the door.

Sitting on a small scroll rack above the door was a very large, rather obvious looking scroll. Written in bold print on a plaque above it was the words 'Scroll of Forbidden Jutsu'.

Naruto laughed with relief. There it was.

He jumped up, snatching the scroll. Then, he ran to the window in the corner of the room, opened it, and jumped out.

He landed on his feet, and immediately began to run towards the forest at the outskirts of town.

It took a few minutes, but he reached the forest in good time. After dashing through the underbrush for a minute, he took to the trees.

There was a clearing a few minutes into the forest that Naruto and Anko trained in, that was where he was heading.

A minute or so later, Naruto skidded to a halt. He sat at the base of a tree, at the edge of the clearing, one covered in burn marks and scratches. He opened the scroll gently.

The title stood out boldly on the paper, but Naruto skipped past it. The first jutsu, the "Kage Bunshin jutsu" would be useful, but it was a bunshin, and Naruto hated them with a passion.

The next jutsu stood out. It required no hand seals!

JunpakuYouganryuu no jutsu.

Naruto smiled. He had hit the jackpot.

The jutsu, a rather powerful one for a hand-seal-less jutsu, fired a stream of pure white fire. It could be controlled slightly to make the radius larger or smaller, but not to a large extent. It was the one of the hottest flames produced by a jutsu in the world, but was for the most part too chakra consuming to be worth while.

For Naruto, who had a constraint on his ability to use hand seals, and an excess of chakra, it was perfect.

**_Junpaku Youganryuu no Jutsu - Pure White Lava Flow Technique_**

_Rank: A_

_Chakra Consumption: High_

_Power: 4 out of 5_

_Element: Fire_

_Description: Fires a variable stream of pure white flames out of the user's mouth. The large chakra consumption of this technique made it fall out of use, as other techniques could create just as much damage for less chakra. The only advantages to this technique are the lack of hand seals, so performance is faster, and the flames are hotter than most. White flames can be used to power other flame techniques, such as the Ryuuka no jutsu, which requires a flame already in existence to power it._

Naruto smirked. Then, he giggled. Then he burst out laughing. It was perfect!

Then, he stood up, memorizing how to perform the technique. After a few minutes of looking it over, he stood up.

Praying that he didn't burn down the forest by accident, he started to gather his chakra in his lungs. Then, he took a deep breath, letting the chakra mix with the air he pulled in.

And finally, he let out the tremendous breath of air. As the breath left him, he transferred the raw gathered chakra into fire chakra, and a thin stream of fire was breathed out. The stream faded away about a foot from him, leaving him upset with the failure.

He sighed, stood up straight and took another deep breath. He prepared more chakra in his lungs, and breathed out again. The stream was longer, but still practically useless.

For two hours, he continued to practice the Junpaku Youganryuu. For two hours he failed to perform it right.

In the shadows of the trees nearby, a figure watched him. Shadowed and cloaked, the man just stared.

Finally, after watching for a long time, he jumped out. Naruto instantly spun about, and glared at him. Then Naruto relaxed. "Hey, Mizuki-sensei."

Mizuki nodded to him. "You look like you're having some trouble. Need some help?" Naruto nodded.

Mizuki walked over to him. "What jutsu are you trying to do?"

Naruto grabbed the scroll from nearby, and opened it respectfully. "This one," he said, pointing to the entry on the Junpaku Youganryuu. Mizuki's eyes widened as he comprehended what scroll he was looking at. Then a smile spread across his face.

"Let me look at it a little bit, and then I'll see if I can help you."

Naruto nodded, and handed the scroll to him. Mizuki took it and walked over to one of the trees and sat down. He studied the scroll for a few minutes, before standing back up and walking back to Naruto. "Let me see what you can do with it, and then I can help you."

Naruto swallowed, hoping that Mizuki knew what he was doing. He gathered the chakra in his lungs, before taking a deep breath, and breathing out a medium length stream of white fire.

Mizuki nodded. "I see. You're not putting enough chakra into it. Try more. Lots more. It may help get it right."

Naruto's eyes darkened. More chakra? That would be too much; it would probably set the forest on fire from where he was.

As Naruto set about gather more chakra, Mizuki smiled a devil's smile. The brat fell for it! He'd get his revenge now.

Naruto gathered more and more chakra, hoping it would be enough. More, more, more, his mind chanted.

Before long, Naruto felt a blunt object strike the back of his head. He was catapulted several feet forward, feeling woozy.

"Wha…?"

Mizuki's voice sounded from above him. "Idiot, did you think that I'd actually want to help you? A little demon brat like yourself? Ha, don't make me laugh."

The blunt object stuck the middle of his back, making Naruto cry out in pain.

"Now that you've gathered all that chakra into your lungs, you'll have to expel it somehow. I'm going to laugh when you set fire to your precious village and the forest around it."

Naruto swallowed. He tried to take a breath, but the blunt object smashed into his back again.

"Stupid brat."

The staff stuck again, and again. Over and over, the blunt object struck his back, leaving bruises and marks covering him.

"Just let it out, demon. Let out the flames that burn to consume you and this miserable forest."

Naruto just groaned in pain, his mind running at high speeds.

"I have a question. Why does everyone call me 'demon'? I'm not a demon."

The weapon stopped hitting Naruto in the back. "Oh, have you not figured that out yet? You are the demon Kyuubi, reincarnated. You were born the day it died, it only makes sense." The blunt weapon returned to beating on Naruto's back, who gave a whimper of pain.

Kyuubi? He was the reincarnation of the demon? Was that why everyone hated him? But then, why would the Hokage not hate him? Was he only faking it? He seemed to genuinely care. And they called Anko names like they did him; did that mean Anko was the same way?

_No!_ A voice from his mind came. _You aren't the Kyuubi. You are a human, not a demon. You have morals, friends, love, stuff that no demon is capable of! You are not a demon!_ The voice sounded suspiciously like Anko-chan.

Naruto hissed in pain.

Mizuki's voice started again. "You think that everyone hates you now, don't you? You're right. Except for that little bitch of yours, everyone hates you. Even the Hokage! Now, wha…" his voice trailed away.

Naruto had started push his hands underneath himself. He pushed himself up, and got his feet under him. Then, he pushed up again, getting unstably to his feet.

"Damn you, bastard. I'll kill you for that." Naruto's voice was seemingly light, but there was a sinister undertone.

"Wha…?" Mizuki took a step back. After that beating, the brat could still stand?

Naruto took a large breath. As he held it in his lungs for a moment, the leftover chakra that he had gathered before was infused in it.

Then, he turned to Mizuki, and let loose.

A thin stream of white flames burst from his mouth. In an instant, they were upon Mizuki. The flame struck his chest, burning through the clothes he wore instantly. In an instant, his stomach was covered in burn markings, and the flames started to spread over his body.

Naruto widened the flames a few feet from Mizuki, engulfing him completely in the white flames. After a minute, he cut off his breath, not wanting to entirely kill Mizuki, but give him over to the Hokage. The flames faded quickly, except for a few patches of burning grass past Mizuki.

Mizuki's nearly charred smoking body fell to the ground in a lump.

Instantly, several members of the Anbu appeared, surrounded Naruto.

One of them spoke, wearing a white dove mask. "What is the meaning behind the attacking of a Leaf Chuunin?"

Naruto pulled off his vest, and his orange shirt, showing them his back. The bruises covering it had not healed yet. "He attacked me first. I was trying to perfect my new technique, which was an order from the Hokage, and he interfered, as well as attacking me half way through, in an attempt to make me accidentally burn down the forest around Konoha. I managed to keep the technique from erupting uncontrolled, and used it on him."

The Anbu nodded, detecting no hint of a lie from Naruto. "Then I shall take him into custody, and have Ibiki look into this. Thank you for your time."

The Anbu nodded to the others, and grabbed onto Mizuki's burnt body, before disappearing, leaving a few falling leaves in his place.

A rustling of leaves came from behind him, and he twirled around, falling into a battle stance.

The Hokage stood before him, smiling. "Very good Naruto. As of right now, you are officially a Genin of Konoha. You should get home, someone is there waiting to celebrate with you."

The Hokage held out a small bundle of cloth, but Naruto didn't grab it. "He said I was the Kyuubi? Is it true?"

The Hokage's eyes widened. "You are not the Kyuubi. You are the boy he was sealed inside of, though, as much as it hurts me to tell. You shouldn't have had to worry about it at all."

Naruto smiled sadly. "So that's why it all happened that way, huh? The reason they all hate me?" he said, as he waved his hand towards the village. "They think I'm the demon, eh. They doubt their own past leader's abilities, eh?"

The Sandaime nodded sadly. "I tried to make it better for you, but the law only made them worse, because their leader was protecting you."

"But, it is important that you separate yourself from the Kyuubi. You are not him, and if you want, I can totally remove any connection you have with him, by affecting the seal."

Naruto smiled. "Actually, I always wondered why my hands continued to burn, but I think you just gave me the answer. Kyuubi's chakra might do that on its own. I don't want to get rid of that, it may help me in the end." He held out his hand, grabbing the small cloth bundle.

He opened it, finding a hitai-ate. Smiling lightly, he looked up to thank the Hokage, but he was gone.

Naruto laughed, and took off running towards home. The Hokage was right, there was someone waiting at home to celebrate with. He slid the hitai-ate in place around his forehead, before deciding to replace the cloth with a bandana. It'd probably look better.

**A/N:** That was the longest thing I've ever written in one chapter before. But it was fun. What do you think? I liked it. It's a bit disjointed, but it's supposed to be like that. Please correct any incorrect Japanese, if you don't mind. I'd rather not insult another language by using it incorrectly.


	2. Team 9

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. I do own the stuff you don't recognize, though._**  
**_

_**Kindred Spirits**_

**Chapter 2: Team 9  
**

Naruto had arrived home that night, happy and content. After he had shown off his new hitai-ate to Anko, she had jumped on him, hugging him tightly.

He and Anko had eventually stopped partying, and Anko had left back to her apartment next door. He had taken a long time to fall asleep after that.

The next morning, he woke up to Anko's shouts, as usual, and dashed off getting ready. After he finished, he had reverently place his new hitai-ate on his head, tying the bandana in the back, several of his long hairs falling out of the front.

The two of them dashed off, making it to the academy in record time.

Naruto smirked as he walked into the classroom, making everyone hush.

"But you failed! Why are you here?"

"Stupid dobe, how could you not do three bunshin?"

Naruto just laughed. "Whatever. I'm here now, so it's not really important."

The two took a seat near the back, and started to whisper.

Everyone tried to figure out what had happened, and why the dobe had passed, but Naruto wasn't saying anything.

Iruka-sensei eventually came in, and calmed the class down with his usual morning shouts.

"SHUT UP!"

Everyone quieted instantly, shivering in fear.

"Better. Now, I'm going to be reading off the team list. Each team is a group of three, and they are approved by the Hokage. If you have any problem with your team, nobody cares."

Anko and Naruto zoned out a bit, not really listening to the second large speech given to them about their life and roles as a Genin.

And then, Iruka-sensei started calling out the teams. One by one they went down. "Team seven will be Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Tsukiko Gina with the Jounin-sensei of Hatake Kakashi. Team eight will be Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino, with the Jounin-sensei of Yuuhi Kurenai. Team nine will be Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto's head shot up at his name. "Mitarashi Anko." Anko looked over at him and smiled, "and Kazama Corinna." Naruto and Anko looked around the class, trying to find this classmate, and new teammate, before seeing a girl with silky bright blonde hair past her ears, and grey-blue eyes looking back at them.

"Your sensei will be Shiranui Genma." They all nodded, and went back to not really paying attention.

"Team ten will be Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chouji, and Nara Shikamaru. Your Jounin-sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma."

"That concludes the placing of the teams. Wait for your Jounin-sensei's to pick you up. I hope you have a good life, and I am glad to have met you all."

The class looked up, realizing for the first time that this would probably be the last time they saw their sensei for a long while. "Thanks, Iruka-sensei! Same to you!" the class shouted as one.

Iruka nodded. "Then get out of here, take a separate empty class room, and wait for your sensei."

The class cheered, happy at finally becoming Genin.

Watching from the front of the classroom, tears threatened at Iruka's eyes. He was proud of this class. After all, they were his first academy class to graduate, fully under his tutelage. He had two other classes graduate while under his teachings, but this one was the first one he taught from beginning to end. He knew that most of them wouldn't pass the second Genin exam, and give up on being ninja, and that most of the rest would die on missions, but he was proud of them anyways.

And there went his two favorite students, out the door.

Anko and Naruto walked out the room, towards an empty class somewhere down the hallway, their other teammate following behind them.

Once inside, they closed the door, making sure people knew they were in there, and sat down to talk.

"So, Kazama-san, I haven't heard much about you. What sort of techniques do you use?" Naruto asked.

Kazama Corinna's eyes narrowed. "What reason could _you_ possibly have to know my techniques?"

Naruto's smile drooped a little. "What do you mean?"

"You know very well what I mean, demon!" she hissed, careful to not talk too loudly. "You killed my father!" she whispered.

Naruto's eyes closed. Another one was caused pain by the demon, and this one actually knew who he was. "How… do you know about that?" he asked.

"Of course I know about it, my father was the one who sealed Kyuubi! He wouldn't leave his only family without telling us why!" the girl sneered.

Naruto took a deep breath. So she was the Yondaime's daughter, eh? Damn, just his luck that she didn't accept what happened.

"Alright then, I suppose I'll just have to accept that." Naruto nodded. The girl glared at him, and walked to a nearby desk to sit down.

Anko sauntered up to him. "So what's stuck up her butt?"

Naruto just shook his head. "She's the daughter of the Yondaime. She's upset at me for him dying when Kyuubi was sealed away," he said.

Anko, who he'd told of the Kyuubi right after he found out, just laughed. "She'll get over it soon enough, hopefully. I hope it doesn't end up destroying our team." Naruto smirked as well.

A knock at the door interrupted their conversation. Corinne, who was closest, opened the door, politely bowing to the man in a bandana that walked through the door. The senbon that hung from his mouth twitched. "Don't bow to me. I'm only your teacher, not some royalty," the man said, jauntily.

Corinna nodded, and stood up straight, and Naruto finally got a good look at her. Her long coat, much like the Yondaime's, flowed around her legs. She wore simple baggy pants that hung low on her hips and a tight t-shirt, the combination of which left about an inch of skin bare above her jeans. Around her waist was a pair of wide belts, one hanging down from each hip. On her feet were boots, much like the ones Naruto wore.

On Corinna's left side, a two foot long kodachi hung. The tsuba formed the shape of a twelve pointed star. On her right leg a small kunai pouch sat. It was filled with what appeared to be numerous long thin throwing knives, not the senbon or kunai that would normally fill such a pouch.

The man who stood in the middle of the deserted classroom spoke up, "I'm Shiranui Genma, your new team sensei. Let's get out of here, I'd rather not spend time remembering my schoolboy days," he said with a laugh.

Together, the four of them walked out of the room. They followed their sensei to an abandoned looking training area, area thirteen. There was a small park like area in the center, with several benches surrounding a table. They all took seats, Naruto and Anko together, with Corinna and Genma taking a bench each.

"Well, I don't know any of you, and I doubt you really know your teammates, so we'll be introducing ourselves today. Give me some of your likes, dislikes, favorite techniques, what you do in your free time, stuff like that," Genma said.

The three nodded before asking the man to give his intro first. "Well, I'm Shiranui Genma, a Jounin. My job is usually being an examiner for the Chuunin exams when they come here, but this year I was pressed into service being a teacher for Genin. I'm a weapons specialist, and that's what you all are probably going to become as well." He drew the senbon out of his mouth. "This is my lucky senbon. He's saved my life several times." He put the senbon back in his mouth, chewing on it lightly. "I like to study in a library, and practice using weapons I don't know how to use. I don't really dislike much, besides dango." Anko snarled at him, and he released a laugh. "Well, yeah, that's about it for me," he said. "You, Naruto, you're up."

Naruto nodded. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I'm a Genin. I like Anko-chan, and ramen. I love training! I hate having a disadvantage, like my inability to use chakra properly through hand seals. My favorite techniques are all taijutsu, most of which focus on never using my hands in battle. In my free time, I study up on new ninja techniques that don't have hand seals, so I can use them."

Corinna snorted at his inability to use hand seals. Genma pointed at her to go next.

"I'm Kazama Corinna." She said shortly. Genma's eyes narrowed. _So she's the Yondaime's daughter, eh?_ "I like my mother, and I dislike the fact that my father had to die to seal away the _demon_." She spit out the last word as if it were the devil himself. "I hope one day to live up to my father's legacy. My favorite techniques are any ones left to me by my father. In my free time, I like to practice playing the guitar, and training." Genma nodded.

Anko's brash voice came quickly after Corinna's speech ended. "Mitarashi Anko. I'm a Genin as well. I think dango is the coolest thing since sliced bread. I hate people who judge others before getting to know them, and my family. In my free time, I like to go with Naruto to the library, looking up new techniques for myself."

Anko quickly drew out her sword. Its blade was tinted lightly red, as if so much blood had been spilled on it that it had permanently dyed the blade. It had a golden handle, with an undecorated oval tsuba. "This is my partner, _Tyrfing_. It was originally cursed to kill all who wielded it, and to be the cause of three great evils, but these curses have broken recently. The original user of this blade was Mitarashi Arngrim, long ago. It has been passed down the family, for hundreds of years, possibly even from before the Cataclysm."

Genma nodded. The legendary _Tyrfing_ sword, that which had caused the downfall and disgrace of the Mitarashi family. The only one left was Mitarashi Anko.

"Alright, now that we know at least a little about each other, I have a surprise." Genma let out a laugh.

"Oh, a surprise?" Corinna asked.

"Yes, possibly the greatest surprise you'll ever get. You see, tomorrow, you three have to take another test."

"Another… test?" the three asked in unison.

"A survival test… with me as your opponent. You have a very large chance of failing the test, and if you do, I send you back to the academy."

The team's eyes widened comically. "Back… to the academy?"

Corinna growled, "But… we passed the Genin exam! You can't send us back!"

Genma shook his head. "Sorry, but that test was only to see if you had the knowledge to become a Genin. Now you have to actually prove you can do it. Only three, or occasionally four, teams pass every year. Only nine to twelve students actually become Genin, the rest fail, and usually decide to stop trying for ninja-ship."

Three collective jaws dropped.

"I'm not going to fail!" they all proclaimed together.

Genma smiled a secret smile. "We'll see about that tomorrow. Now, go home. We're done for today. Come back here at 0900 sharp tomorrow."

Naruto, Anko and Corinna nodded and left the training area together. Corinna immediately dashed away, leaving the other two alone.

Anko giggled, almost sounding nervous. "That was… entertaining. We ended up with a teammate who dislikes you, and knows who you really are." Naruto nodded, looking slightly sad. He had been hoping for a teammate who wouldn't look down on him for the demon, if he ever got around to telling them. This one was prejudiced against him at the start, but not for the same reason. Corinna hated him because her father had died, giving his life to seal away a beast that resided in Naruto.

"Well, anyways, lets get out of here." With a burst of speed, the two of them ran off.

The Second Day!

At nine, the three teammates were relaxing lightly in the strange training area. Corinna was occasionally glaring at Naruto, who was laying on one of the several benches throughout the area. Anko was sitting at the base of the same bench, and the two were conversing in hushed tones.

With a popping noise, and a burst of smoke, Genma-sensei arrived. He smiled at the three of them, and motioned them over.

"Alright, Genin, it's time to take the actual Genin exam. I've got these," he held up a simple bunch of bracelets. There were three in each color, and four sets. One set was a blinding orange, one was a light blue color, one was a dark brown, and one was a simple green, "and they're part of your test. The three of you will be pitted against each other, and me. Every time someone hits you, one of your bracelets will transfer to them. The two who get six bracelets pass. If I happen to get six of them, then two of you will fail. If you loose all of your bracelets, you are disqualified."

The three Genin solemnly nodded. This was a test of skill, and he said only nine to twelve Genin teams actually pass. "And the failures are sent back to the academy, correct?" Corinna asked.

Genma nodded. "You got it! Now, everyone take these," he passed out the bracelets, orange to Naruto, blue to Corinna, and brown to Anko, "and we'll get started."

The three nodded, slipping their three bracelets on. They turned towards each other and nodded, silently saying _May the best man/woman win._

Genma raised his hand. "This test will go on for two hours, until 1100. Begin… now!" In a flash, all three Genin were gone.

Naruto was wondering about this test, it seemed a bit too fishy. Genma had said last time they had meet, after the introduction that three or four teams usually passed, but this test seemed to contradict that. This test was saying that people, not teams passed. It didn't add up. "Not much I can really do about it anyways. Let's go looking for Anko. Hopefully she'll have a better idea about this than I do."

Naruto leapt off the tree he had taken refuge in, and put on a huge burst of speed. In a flash, he vanished, leaving behind a small trail of slowly falling dust.

He found Anko quickly, but hid behind a tree as he heard speech. "Look, we need to work as a team to pass this test!" Anko was shouting, dodging around Corinna's strikes.

"Fuck off! I'll never work as a team with that demon! I'd rather die!" Corinna drew her kodachi and swung it, intending to shut up Anko.

Instead, she found Naruto's boot blocking the blade. Naruto was contorted in a slightly uncomfortable looking position, his leg quite high in the air, holding the blade back with his heavy boots. "Look," he said, "do you want to become a Genin?"

Corinna just jumped away from him. "I won't let you stop me from becoming a Genin. This whole test is a test of skill, not teamwork!"

"Then why did Genma-sensei tell us that three or four _teams_ only pass each year? Why do they make the teams at all, especially ones that have the Hokage's approval? You're a fool!" Anko snarled at her, stomping her foot, as if to prove a point.

Corinna just glared at Naruto. She charged again, and this time Anko blocked the sword with _Tyrfing_. Corinna jumped back again.

"Look, I understand that you don't want to work with me! Let's just do this test, pass it, and then I'll even let you take out all of the anger you want on me!" Corinna's eyes narrowed. It was a good deal.

"And what if that's not the reason behind the test? Then what?"

"Then we'll fail, not every one passes, get over it! I want to be a ninja just as much, if not more than you do!" Naruto shouted.

Corinna just glared at him. "Fine. But afterwards, I'll kill you." She said.

Naruto nodded in acceptance. "Alright, let's do this!"

"Let's do what?" a voice came from the trees.

Silence came from the group. It took them a second to register the words spoken.

"Shit!" The three spun around, forming a tight circle with their bodies, backs to each other.

Genma walked out of the trees with an even pace, and stopped a few meters away. "What, you've been having a party without me?" he asked, with a sad look on his face.

A throwing knife shot out of the group, heading right towards Genma. He smirked, and spit out his senbon, using chakra to aid its speed. It struck the throwing knife, knocking both off course. Before the senbon hit the ground, it disappeared, reappearing in Genma's mouth.

All three of the Genin's eyes widened. So this was a Jounin. Fast enough to get the senbon that several meters away from him, and get back into position without any of them noticing.

"Ready, children?" Genma asked, with a smirk on his face.

And then he was gone.

The three students were thrown apart as Genma appeared in the middle of the circle. The three green bracelets on his right arm jangled.

Naruto, Anko and Corinna jumped back together in a group, this time all facing Genma. "I'll go first," Naruto whispered to the others, "Cover me."

The air around Naruto's feet started to swirl, almost unnoticeably. Genma smirked. The boy was already awakening the heart chakra!

Naruto jumped off the ground, the wind aiding him. He shot forward, towards Genma, and struck out. Genma lightly caught his hand, flinging him behind him, and then quickly dodged the rain of throwing knives, kunai and shiruken that followed. The rain of weapons continued on their path, straight at Naruto.

Naruto quickly righted himself, and spun around. Upon noticing the rain of blades heading towards him he took a flying leap up, unknowingly propelling himself with the small amount of wind chakra. He shot out of the way of the dangerous wave of weapons, and landed safely. Looking around, he found Genma, engaged in a weapons match with Anko, who had Tyrfing out. Genma was holding her off with his single senbon, and easily blocking all of her attacks.

Corinna attempted to sneak behind Genma, only to be knocked away by a seemingly random back swing, loosing one of her bracelets in the process. She snarled, and flung another wave of the strange throwing knives at her new opponent. Their sensei jumped out of the way, leaving the deadly weapons to fly at Anko, who promptly deflected them with kunai.

Naruto jumped at Genma, pulling himself into a flip, and bringing his foot down towards his opponent's head. Genma easily caught the foot, and pushed it away from him.

A wave of green and silver passed Genma, missing him barely. A single hair fell in front of his face, sliced off by the strange attack. Genma spun around, and glared at Anko, who stood winded from the attack. A light shot from Genma's wrist, and spun itself around Anko's, forming into a green bracelet.

Genma disappeared, and reappeared behind Anko. His green bracelets jingled. "If that's the way you want to play. Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" he quickly grabbed his senbon from his mouth, before breathing out deeply, sending a sending several balls of fire at Anko's back.

Naruto jumped in the way, swinging his foot in another kick, which released a wave of green and red chakra, similar to the one that had struck Genma before. The blade sliced through the fireballs, which faded away.

Genma jumped out of the way of the strange wave of energy. A second later, he was glad to have done so, as the strange blade passed through the tree behind him, cleaving it in half.

As he landed, a normal throwing knife nicked him on the back of his hand. He cursed as another one of his bracelets vanished, leaving him with two, and he vanished quickly. The jingling of his bracelets echoed around the forest training area.

Corinna smirked as her bracelet returned to her. "Got him!" she celebrated.

Genma appeared behind Naruto, and struck him in the back, making one of his bracelets disappear, and reform on Genma. Naruto was flung to the ground, but quickly jumped up, spinning and swinging his foot. This time, instead of a wave of energy, a small bolt of blue lightning shot out, heading straight for Genma. Genma jumped, but the bolt followed him.

He hit the ground, hoping that this wouldn't hurt. Luckily, it didn't. The lightning was a temporary paralyzing technique. It would require much more chakra to make it hurt.

Genma watched as the bracelet he had just gained shot over to Naruto, who took his paralysis to his advantage. Naruto sprung over to Genma, and kicked him in the chin, sending him falling backwards, and making him loose another bracelet. Only one left.

Genma was still lightly affected by the paralysis, making him move a little slower than usual. It annoyed him. For a second, he did nothing as he stood up, but then, he drew in a tremendous breath.

Naruto, fearing a large scale attack, jumped straight back, and brought his foot up, hoping to have a jutsu that could block the coming attack.

Instead of a jutsu though, Genma spit out his senbon at an incredibly high speed.

Naruto's eyes widened at the high speed weapon heading towards him. He closed his eyes, knowing he couldn't intercept it.

With a ping, the small needle struck.

But not him.

Naruto opened his eyes to see a senbon and a throwing knife on the ground in front of him. Seeing Corinna in the corner of his eye, he smiled. He gave her a thumbs-up, and she responded with a snarl.

"Just don't loose to the bastard," she said.

Naruto nodded, and pushed himself towards the bandana wearing man.

Naruto slid under the punch that headed towards the man, and swung his foot up, crashing it into the man's chin. Genma floated away, and the last bracelet glittered for a second, before fading away.

Naruto smirked as he noticed the fifth bracelet form on his arm.

Genma stood up, and nodded to them. "Good job, you three. Now, you still have one person left to eliminate."

The three turned to face him.

Naruto put on a thinking pose. "Nah, I don't think so."

The other three turned to him. "What do you mean?" Genma asked.

"Well, I think I'll just give up my bracelets to the other two. They shouldn't fight, and they deserve to be ninja more than I do anyways," he said, as he pulled off the bracelets. He threw two to Anko, and three to Corinna. "They'd be better ninja than me, since I can't even do ninja techniques that require hand seals." He turned around, and started to walk away.

Genma nodded, unsurprised. When Naruto was out of sight, he continued. "Alright then, you two pass." He said, pointing to Anko and Corinna.

Anko looked disgusted. "No way, I'm not passing without Naruto." She threw her bracelets on the ground in front of Genma. "You can have 'em. Naruto and me go together, or neither of us go."

She also turned and started to walk away.

Corinna and Genma looked at each other.

Corinna slowly reached to her wrist where the bracelets resided. She caressed them for a moment, before pulling them off. "They may not be my friends, but we do make a good team. And even so, I like working with them. Even if Naruto was the reason my dad died…" She too threw her bracelets into the pile at Genma's feet, and walked away.

If any of them had looked back they would have seen the smile on Genma's face was radiant. "Good job, you three. You all… pass."

Naruto had walked back to his apartment quickly, hoping that the tears wouldn't begin to spill before he got there. He knew he had given up the chance for a good reason, but he couldn't help but feel sad. At least Anko and Corinna would be good ninja…

"Hey Naruto!" Anko's brash voice brought him out of his ponderings.

"Anko? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Genma-sensei?" Naruto asked. Anko huffed. "Not without you, dumbass!" she slugged him in the arm. "We're supposed to become ninja together, damn it, remember? Not you give up your chance to become a ninja for me!"

Naruto smiled. He was glad that Anko had thought of him. "Anko, you need to go back. He won't pass you if you're not there," he said, his tone sad.

Anko just punched his arm again. "Damn it, I said not without you! I'm not becoming a ninja to leave you behind! Either you come with me, or we both quit trying to become ninja! I already gave up that chance to pass when I threw the bracelets down at Genma-sensei's feet."

"C'mon Anko, you deserve it more than I do. You should-" he was interrupted by Anko smashing her fist into his face.

"Shut up! Stop belittling yourself! Damn it! 'You deserve it more than I do', what kind of bull shit is that?" Naruto looked up at her, to see tears running down her face. "Naruto, don't do that to yourself! You're just as worthy as I am to be a ninja!" Her breath hitched. "You idiot…"

Anko threw herself on him, and started to sob quietly on his chest. A soft sad smile formed on Naruto's face. "C'mon, Anko, lets get home then." He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, and started to pull them back to the apartment complex.

"Naruto, Anko!" another voice interrupted them. "Wait for me!"

Corinna landed beside them with a crash. She had apparently tripped on something while landing, and was sprawled out on the ground. "Oohh, that hurts!"

Anko sniffled, her tears slowing. A small giggle escaped her lips.

Corinna jumped to her feet. "I may not like you, Naruto, but anyone knows that to try and fix something that already works is pointless. We made a good team, so if you two weren't passing, I wouldn't either. The next time you two take the exam, call me, please. We'll take it together." She held out a small piece of paper, with a phone number on it, to Anko. Anko swiped her tears away, and grabbed the paper. She slid it into one of her pockets on the inside of her long coat, and looked at Corinna. "Thanks a lot." She whispered, shyly.

It was the first time that she had made a friend outside of Naruto. It was surprising how much different she seemed right then.

"Naruto, I owe you a beating." Corinna said, turning to face him. He nodded. "Tomorrow. I need to take care of Anko first." Corinna smiled, and nodded.

"I'll meet you here, tomorrow. I'll be here at 1300, sharp. Be there." Naruto's smile turned serious, and he nodded.

For about an hour, the three conversed, talking about nothing.

"I need to get home, remember to come here tomorrow, Naruto." Corinna glared at Naruto.

Corinna turned and was about to leave, when another voice interrupted them.

"Hey, you three." Their sensei's voice sounded from a nearby wall.

The three spun around, seeing Genma standing there.

"You three pass, by the way. You all are now Genin."

Three jaws collectively dropped.

"Wha…?"

Genma nodded. "Anko was correct when she said that the whole test was based on teamwork. You three were a good team. You teamed up to take out the biggest threat, and then, when internal strife was created, Naruto stepped forward so that no fighting happened between teammates. Good job!"

Genma held out his hand, and there were the collection of bracelets that he had given them for the test. "You guys are my team, so you can keep these. I gave 'em to you, after all."

They all took their own color bracelets, quickly looking back at each other.

The three Genin slipped the bracelets on, taking a second to admire them. It was almost as if they had their own personal trophies to say they passed the true Genin exam.

Naruto thought for a second. "How about we change bracelets, so we all have one of each color? Then, we'll all have a reminder that we're three different parts of a whole, that we're a team." He held out two of his bracelets to his team members.

Anko quickly grabbed one, and switched it with one of her own, which Naruto slipped on his wrist.

Corinna just stared. "We are a team, I suppose a reminder would be good for something like this…" she trailed off, before grabbing the bracelet out of Naruto's hand. "Don't think this changes much, now I just can't kill you," she hissed at him.

Naruto nodded, and Corinna turned to Anko to switch bracelets as well.

Genma clapped, they really did have the essence of teamwork.

"Alright, now tomorrow, I need to meet you early to begin your training!"

**_Chapter End!_**

**Tsukiko Gina – **She'll be introduced later, but, when I came up with her, I thought she was pretty cool, so hopefully you'll all like her. Name means Silver (Gina) Moon Child (Tsukiko), and then I spun it around to make it a Japanese name. And she definitely won't be what you're expecting with a name like that.

**Kazama Corinna –** Yes, she is the daughter of the Yondaime, and no, she isn't related to Naruto in any way, before you even ask. Naruto isn't the son of the Yondaime in this, even though most people think that he is in the actual story. And yes, I did use Kazama because that's just the most commonly used name for the Yondaime. At the moment, she doesn't know very many of Yondaime's jutsu, mostly because of a lack of chakra. She doesn't know the Hiraishin no jutsu or the Rasengan, yet…

Corinna means Maiden, in Greek.

**Naruto Not Being Able to Use Hand Seals –** There is an important reason behind this, but it won't come out until the Chuunin exams most likely.

**_Tyrfing_ –** A legendary Goth sword, cursed to cause three great evils, as well as kill any person who wielded it. Anko's _Tyrfing_ has had both curses broken, thus it isn't any more or less dangerous than a normal sword.

**The Bracelets –** There's a reason behind them too. You'll have to wait for it though.

**Heart Chakra –** Looking up the actual ideas behind the seven major chakra points in the body, I found that the heart is the place that has the greatest connection with the air. Thus, Genma calls Wind elemental chakra Heart Chakra. Naruto has a higher concentration of Heart Chakra, thus making him have a higher amount of devotion, love, compassion and healing, as compared to other's who don't have higher Heart Chakra. For more information, go to Wikipedia and search "Chakra".

**Naruto's and Anko's green and another color wave attacks –** Sword based jutsu, doesn't require hand seals. Naruto modified it so he could use it with his legs.

**Naruto's paralyzing lightning bolt –** Another jutsu. Hand seal-less, temporarily paralyzes an opponent, leaving them open for a more devastating attack.

**Naruto not using the Junpaku Youganryuu –** Well, even for Naruto, that attack does use up a _lot_ of chakra. It probably won't be his signature move, like the Kage Bunshin became in the Manga/Anime.

**A/N: **Well, chapter 2, done. Yay.


End file.
